Spotlight: James Murphy Design

So many talented people, so little time. We love finding things in this city. It constantly amazes us what people are doing. All the bright ideas and hard work that seep out of this city like sweat on an orange.

We met James Murphy last week and are proud to spotlight his talents. A native of Staten Island, James studied sculpture and photography at SUNY Purchase under Jan Groover and Gregory Crewdson, and then went on to apply his skills and good eye to cabinetry and woodwork. He has worked as a restoration carpenter at the Frick Collection among other places and currently is the Director of the Woodworking Department at the Crafts Students League and an instructor at SVA.

James has long built furniture for others out of his Staten Island shop and launched his own line last year. One of his first pieces, Flight Deck (shown top), was a winner of Interior Design Magazine's "Future Furniture" competition, and is featured in July's edition.

With a small collection that is finely crafted entirely out of native American hardwoods, James is off to an exciting start. Apart from Flight Deck, we also like the long, attenuated structure of his Exis side table (show right), and find this much more interesting than the typical blocky log furniture that we have seen so much of and reminds us of the 90's. We want to see more. This style, which we call Organic Modern, is a powerful one, and one we know will take off in the next decade. Check out James Murphy (at www.jamesmurphydesign.com) and remember his name. MGR